§ MR. GORDON (Elgin and Nairn)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been drawn to illegal trawling during the winter months in the protected waters of the Moray Firth; whether definite charges have been received by the criminal authorities, either from officials or private persons; and what progress the Fishery Board has made in securing newer and swifter vessels for the service of the sea police?
§ MR. ORR-EWING (Ayr Burghs)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that five trawlers were at work close in shore off Tolsta Sands on Sunday, the 6th February, and again since; and, will he explain why there was no Government boat or any other means of stopping them? Also, if the right hon. Gentleman can state how many beam trawlers have been captured fishing within the proscribed limits by H.M.S. Starling since she went to Stornoway in 1894?
§ MR. ANDREW K. MURRAYSince July, 1894, H.M.S. Starling has been frequently employed inquiring into complaints of alleged illegal trawling, chiefly in the districts in the North of Scotland, the North-West Highlands, the Hebrides, and Argyleshire, but she has never seen a trawler actually engaged in trawling within the prescribed limits.
§ MR. T. C. HEDDERWICK (Wick Burghs)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that, owing to the inadequacy of the Government vessels to cope with the practice of illegal trawling, th fishermen on the North-East Coast of Scotland have felt themselves forced to maintain a vessel by private subscription for the purpose of securing the observance of the law; and, if so, whether it is proper that the maintenance of the law should be thus left to private enterprise?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATEThe Fishery Board were notified of the presence of these trawlers off Tolsta by the fishery officer at Stornoway, and they immediately applied to the Admiralty for a gunboat to visit the locality. The Admiral Superintendent has consented to send a cruiser to the vicinity at the earliest possible moment.